


In the Cold

by willow_larkspur



Series: Fantasy February [20]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Child Death, Desi Harry Potter, Female Harry Potter, Gen, Not A Happy Ending, accidental magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29812140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willow_larkspur/pseuds/willow_larkspur
Summary: Everyone overlooked how the Dursleys treated their niece. Now the price of that is coming home.
Relationships: Harry Potter & The Dursleys
Series: Fantasy February [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2141499
Kudos: 24
Collections: MC4A Year 3





	In the Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I’m just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn’t going to get you anything but tears.  
> Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, this fic deals with child abuse and ends with a character death. Feel free to back out if need be.  
> Author’s Note: I’ve got feelings about the Dursleys, and having just spent 24hrs in a children’s hospital stirred a lot of them up, okay?

(^^)  
 **In the Cold**  
(^^)

Harini barely remembered what happened. It was all cloudy in the same way that things tended to get when she had done something to earn a really bad punishment. She could always remember the freakish thing that upset the Dursleys happening. She couldn’t always remember doing anything to make the freakish thing happen, but since she was the only freak around, then it must be her. It was always just Harini’s memory of the punishments past a certain point that was cloudy.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t learn the lesson like she was supposed to, no matter how much it hurt or how long the hurt last.

She wasn’t even certain where she was as she fought against the grogginess to wake up fully. Her body hurt in a way that told her that the cloud over her memory was expected, but there was also something different this time. Her body felt distant somehow, like it was down a long hallway from wherever she was.

Breathing deeply made a fire flash in her chest. Uncle Vernon must have caught her ribs when he was kicking her. That would make doing her chores difficult, but Harini already knew from experience that trying to explain that would not be worth it. Harini sighed carefully to not trigger the fire again.

Then she opened her eyes to see where she was. There wasn’t a lot of light. The smell of rotting wood and dirt was all around her, as was the bite of cold. She must have made it to the park after her punishment. That meant it must have been a really bad one then. 

Harini shivered. She only ever ended up in the hollow of the big oak that was tucked into the little wooded part of the park after the really bad punishments. And to make matters worse, it always meant that another punishment was waiting for her at home for having slipped out. She would need to stay here until she was healed up some, a process that would take at least a few hours.

She shivered again as the icy fingers of a breeze found its way into the hollow. Last she could remember clearly, she had been shoveling snow off of the driveway and front walk of Number Four. She had missed a spot on the sidewalk when she had spread out the salt. A patch of ice had settled on that spot, which Mrs. Number Five had slipped on when she had been leaving after Aunt Petunia’s bridge club. Aunt Petunia had barely waited until the woman had left before getting the spoon and hitting her with it.

The cloud around her mind parted just slightly. They had not been in the kitchen, as they typically were when Aunt Petunia needed to be the one to punishment. She could remember the living room’s cream on white wallpaper and how bright the drop of blood had looked hitting it. Then the pictures and knickknacks had started spinning around the room.

Then, without rhyme or reason, Harini had broken one of the most important rules that the Dursleys had. She had asked questions.

"Why are there floating objects around us? What's happening? What's going on?"

Aunt Petunia hadn’t answered. Instead she had just kept hitting her. Then Uncle Vernon had arrived home, already angry about the way the driveway had only been half shoveled and then slipping a bit on the sidewalk’s icy spot himself. Harini had gotten a brief respite as Aunt Petunia had breathlessly explained how Harini had been sloppy while doing her chores.

Then Uncle Vernon had taken over the punishment and the familiar cloud had taken over her memory.

Harini curled up tighter in the hollow of the tree, too cold to even shiver anymore. She just had to wait a few hours before she could walk the six blocks back to the Dursleys. It might be a bit uncomfortable, given how she didn’t have socks or shoes let alone a jacket of any sort, but she had done it before and would probably have to do it again. And waiting might have been easier if she had something to cover up with, but that wasn’t something she only had in her cupboard, so she was used to doing without such impossible luxuries.

She would just take a little nap. In fact, she was already so tired that her eyes had closed again. Her last thought was the same idle wish that she had had a thousand times.

Harini wished that she hadn’t survived the car crash that took her parents.

That wish was the last thing she ever did.

**Author's Note:**

> Submitting Info:  
> Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); MC4A  
> Individual Challenges: Magical MC; Ethnic & Present; Hold the Mayo; Lunar Era; Old Shoes (Y); Bucket Listing; Eating Cake (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Green Ribbon  
> House: Slytherin  
> Assignment No.: Term 14 – Assignment 04  
> Subject (Task No.): Divination (Task#4: Write about someone or something that is often overlooked.)  
> Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [198](Death/Murder of a character); 365 Prompts [217](Snow); Scavenger Hunt [06](Same Character)[5]; But Can You Spell It? [I](Impossible); Stop! Hamper Time (Drinks)[Cream Soda](Cream); Fantasy February (20)[Dialogue (Float)];   
> Other MC4A Challenges: WiB [1A](Snow); Vocab [5D](Rhyme); Fire [Hard](The Future); Chim [Karma](Gender Bend);   
> Representation(s): Desi & Fem Harry Potter  
> Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: n/a; Second Verse (Easy Zephyr; Under the Bridge; Muck & Slime; Nontraditional; Not a Lamp); Chorus (Jack’s Jollies; Some Beach; Abandoned Ship; A Long Dog; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow’s Shade)  
> Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: SHoE(Oblique; Terse); FIN(Ensanguine); DP (Keen; Terse)  
> Word Count: 777 words


End file.
